


Sirenian Chocolate

by moonmoth (greyvvardenfell)



Series: Moth & Raven [37]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feeding, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23588059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/moonmoth
Summary: Reyja has a rough mental health day, but Julian knows how to help.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak, Julian Devorak/Original Character(s)
Series: Moth & Raven [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696501
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Sirenian Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> Written to fill the prompt "i’ve had a horrible week and you just brought me home my favourite treat"

I have no idea what time it is. I wish I didn’t know anything else, either. After everything that’s been lobbed at me this week, one after the other after the other… it’s all I can do to make sure my lungs keep pumping and my heart keeps beating. I haven’t left the bedroom all day. I’ve barely even left the bed. I think I’ve slept some. I know I’ve cried.

Somewhere downstairs, a door opens. Footsteps cross the hardwood floor directly to the staircase and make their way towards me, skipping steps. Julian’s boots sound loud against the solid surface, but it’s the first thing I’ve heard in hours that isn’t my own sobbing. Part of me wonders if he popped in to check on me earlier in the day and I was asleep, because he opens the bedroom door carefully and quietly, like he’s breaking in again.

“I’m awake,” I say dully, my voice muffled by blankets.

He still slips into the room like a shadow. He didn’t even pause to take his coat off when he got home, so he cuts an imposing figure as he circles the bed and lays down beside me, curling in close.

“Hello, darling,” he murmurs, kissing my cheek. “How are you feeling?”

I shrug. I don’t have an answer for him other than silence.

“Ah. I see.” He shifts, tucking his folded knees into mine and nuzzling his nose against my ear. Despite the wealth of blankets already crowding the bed, he drapes his coat across me too. The lump that hasn’t left my throat all day rises to choke me again and I give in to it without resistance.

Julian holds me as I cry myself out one more time, his arms snug around my waist, his breath warm on my neck. When I hiccup to a stop, he lifts his head to kiss the tears from my cheeks and look into my puffy, red-rimmed eyes. The concern radiating from him is so palpable, I can almost taste it.

“I’m staying home tomorrow, my dearest.”

“What?!” I struggle to sit up, squirming out of his embrace. “Juley, no… the clinic…”

He laughs, once, in the back of his throat. “Yusef and Ophie can handle the clinic without me. I need to be here, with you.”

Guilt, shame, hot as wildfire, burn across my skin. “I’m not even sick,” I mutter. “I’m not even anything, I’m just…”

Cool, gentle fingers meet my jawline and turn my face to his before sliding up into my hair, scratching lightly at my scalp. “You’re Reyja, my darling. I love you so very, very much, and I will not leave you to weep alone in the dark.”

That breaks me again. My chin trembles and I crumple into him, staining his leather uniform with yet more tears. He cradles and rocks me, humming tunelessly as he begins to draw a pattern between my shoulder blades, giving me something else to focus on.

“A ship?” I ask tentatively, after heaving a shuddering breath.

“Right in one go, love.” Julian beams, sweeping his thumbs across my cheeks to wipe the last of my tears away. “I, ah, I brought you a bit of a present today.”

“Is it ship-related?”

“In a manner of speaking.” He winks and reaches into the pocket of his coat. “Close your eyes.”

My eyes are so swollen from crying all day that closing them is easier than keeping them open.

“Good, good. Let me just—”

Soft yellow light flares outside my eyelids, then dims to an orange glow. Julian’s magic tingles over the fine hair on my arms before dissipating into the room as the spell he cast fades back from his fingertips.

“There we go. Now, open your mouth and stick out your tongue for me? No funny business, I promise.”

I open an eye a sliver to survey him only to see him looking back at me earnestly, one hand holding a paper-wrapped package with its top edge ragged where he’s already torn it open.

“No peeking,” he chides gently, covering his gift with his other hand.

Smiling, I obey.

Luscious chocolate flavor comes to rest on my tongue, perfectly creamy and smooth, notes of vanilla and extract of almond, dark cherry and distant cacao all blended together. The little chocolate square snaps when I bite down on it, releasing another burst of delicious sweetness.

“Holy shit. Where did you find Sirenian chocolate?”

Julian breaks off another square and presses it to my lips. “I overheard a patient today talking about a ship that just docked, going on about how great the cargo smelled as they unloaded it. When they mentioned that the dashing young captain was blind, you know I just had to go pay our friend Gallagher a visit. He says hello, by the way.”

“I didn’t think Gal was sailing this way anymore.”

“He said the Hjallen corsairs are especially nasty this year. Three of his brothers have lost their ships to them, so he decided to avoid the Strait of Seals and spare himself the same fate. I, ah, applauded his judgement. And his choice of alternative port.”

He offers me another piece. Then another.

“Nothing soothes a sore heart like this,” he murmurs, bending down to kiss my forehead when the first row of marbled squares is gone.

I can’t hold back the tired sigh that, by now, is almost reflexive. “What about a broken mind?”

“Oh, sweetheart…” Julian stretches across me to set the rest of the chocolate on my nightstand, then buries his head in the crook of my neck and holds me tight, like he can squeeze the pain right out of me.

I know he would if he could.

“’M sorry.”

He lingers for a moment, kissing the side of my throat, before pulling back to look me in the eye. “Whatever for?”

“Being such a pessimistic lump.”

“Nonsense. You need to feel what you feel, as you so often tell me. Even the brightest sunshine can be obscured by a passing cloud.”

My mouth twists wryly. “This is one big-ass cloud.”

“Yes, well… perhaps it’s spring, then. The rainy season?”

Despite myself, I laugh, and he laughs with me. I can’t say if it’s the chocolate or just Julian, but I do feel a little better than I did earlier.

“Thank you, Juley. For the chocolate. And everything else you give me.”

He leans in for a kiss, smiling gently. “You’re welcome, my love. Truly, it’s my pleasure.” He pauses, just looking at me, his gaze dancing over my face like he’s never seen anything so stunning. “Would you, mm, would you like some more?”

I grin at the blush rising to his cheeks. “I’ve never said no to Sirenian chocolate, and I’m not going to start now.”


End file.
